Khalil was born in Maninjau, West Sumatra, Indonesia, in 1960. He graduated from the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB), Bogor, Indonesia, in 1984. He joined as Lecturer at the Department of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science of IPB in 1986-1998. He received the M.Sc. degree from the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Bangkok, Thailand and Dr.Sc.Agr. degree from Christians-Albrecht University of Kiel, Germany in 1989 and 1994, respectively.
He moved to the Department of Animal Nutrition and Feed Technology of Andalas University in West Sumatra, in 1999 as an Associate Professor, and a Professor in 2011. His current research interests include mineral nutrition, properties of local minerals in animal nutrition, exploitation of locally potential natural sources for feeding of poultry, monogastrics, and ruminants. He is a Founder and Life Member of the Indonesian Association of Nutritionist and Feed Scientist.